Petroleum products such as oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, and the like, have become very expensive. Their prices will continue to rise as production levels fall.
The present invention will provide an apparatus and method for producing synthetic petroleum products from coal. The high quality synthetic petroleum contains little or no asphaltene component, and high levels of mid-range petroleum products commonly used for fuel or solvents. It will also produce gases containing methylcyclobutane and butane. Finally, the present invention will also produce a solid fuel or coke product that has low ash content, low sulfur, mercury, and chlorine content, with a high energy content. Such fuels are desirable in metallurgical production, and particularly in manufacturing silicon wafers, which requires low levels of contaminants.
The present invention is also environmentally favorable as it is specifically designed to eliminate or minimize use of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide emissions. Gas produced during the process can be used to produce energy to run the process or produce more liquid for engineered fuel products.